D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n

Being an old school thrash metal fan can result in one becoming a passionate ideologue. This isn't to say that there aren't steadfast, conservative warriors out there defending the purity of other sub-genres in the wake of ongoing change, but the unceremonious way that thrash metal was thrown under the bus in the mid-1990s left a particularly glaring scar in the consciousness of many who loved and followed the style when it first reared its ugly head. With the development of any such group of die-hard followers comes the issue of the style's history, inviting the temptation of revisionism in order to establish an unbroken succession of bands through the period's recession and alleged death until its rebirth in the later 90s, aka an enduring underground resistance sticking it to the treacherous mainstream. Some of the consequential albums in the 1992-1994 range that might be pointed to in order to establish such a chain were largely found outside the primary spheres of influence that birthed the thrash style (New York, the Bay Area, Brazil and Germany), and the isolated land Down Under, despite having several established acts in the late 80s, was the most obvious place to lag behind the ongoing trend to dumb down and slow down at the behest of the recording industry.

The Perth born and late to the game thrasher outfit Allegiance are a curious variable in the mid-90s calculation, being both typical and wildly atypical at the same time. In most respects their extremely fresh sounding and colossal debut LP D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n. is more suited to the 1991/1992 sound where speed was still a major factor, but mid-paced grooving was closer to an equal partner in things and virtuoso guitar and bass work was still heavily present, and most of the material found on this album existed in demo form from that very time period. However, the production value and execution is actually very appropriate to the year where Machine Head had hit the scene Burn My Eyes was making waves, going so far as answering that age old question of what if Robb Flynn had continued writing actual thrash metal after leaving Vio-Lence. Even Conrad Higson's gruff-driven and occasionally shouting vocalizations, though probably more an attempt to mirror Hetfield's sound on The Black Album winds up sounding fairly similar to Flynn's attitude-based approach, albeit without all of the grungy yarls and awkward whispered passages that, along with the stagnant musical rubbish, made Machine Head into a marketable parody of metal.

Playing into the political cynicism of the time and tending towards the chug-happy modernity that was all too appropriate to the year of its release, it comes as a bit of a shock how traditionally rooted the songwriting is through much of this album. Parallels to measured neck-destruction, cut with ground shaking mid-paced punch that typified later entries into the style in American and Britain like Xentrix's For Whose Advantage and Testament's Souls Of Black paint much of the instrumental landscape, with occasional stops into more grooving territory that is a bit more in line with present practices. Perhaps the biggest example of this duality with a tendency towards earlier practices is the largely grooving "One Step Beyond", which features a plodding breakdown segment that all but musically quotes "Sad But True", and the proceeds to launch into a speeding verse that's more along the lines of "Dyer's Eve" and even veers off into a blast beat segment a couple times. Then again, the Machine Head-like grooves that sneak in and out of "Downward Spiral" trade blows with a series of high-octane Bay Area madness and even features Higson throwing in a few death barks.

Though the groove element is fairly prominent on this album compared to the bulk of albums that came out during thrash's swansong period (aka pre-1993), a strong case could be made for the songwriting to still quite informed by the madness of the late 80s. Mosh pit friendly crushers such as "Hate Frenzy", "Morally Justified" and "Path Of Lies" (the latter reprising some of those occasional death metal elements both musically and vocally) veer a bit closer to the excesses of Eternal Nightmare and The Ultra-Violence than was common for the early 90s, and several of the less thrashing numbers contain segments that mirror this occasional bent towards metal thrashing madness. Even "Dealt The Cruel Hand", which also manages to edge in a quirky bass break and a few crushing mid-paced riffs that are somewhat reminiscent of Mordred's funky progressive take on things and listens the most like early 90s Metallica-oriented groove, occasionally turns on the afterburners with the best of them. Combined with a consistently shred happy yet bluesy lead guitar assault out of the Kirk Hammett playbook and a drum production large enough to rival Bob Rock's handiwork on The Black Album, each of these songs come off as colossal almost to a sheer fault.

There are few travesties in the history of thrash metal that rival the lack of fanfare that this album received outside of its locale, but it was definitely a typical affair for a time when the metal scene was largely content in vegetating and claiming it was innovating. This obscure and now largely forgotten Australian outfit, likely by sheer happenstance, managed to answer the often nagging question of frustrated Metallica fans of what might have happened had Bob Rock not insisted on trying to turn Metallica into the next Bon Jovi. It likewise puts to rest the notion that thrash metal was not evolving, as this album presents a far more exciting and enticing take on groove oriented thrash metal that is far closer to what Exhorder put forth musically than the watered down, stagnant bastardization that Pantera would unleash upon the world with Vulgar Display Of Power. Regardless of whether it was more geared towards a 1992 sound than a 1994 one, this is about as compelling as it would get for thrash metal in 1994, and hopefully with the advent of internet file trading more and more will know it in the coming years.